Contributions are being sought for a bilingual special issue of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies on "Law, Governance and Development: Critical and Heterodox Approaches," co-edited by Mark Toufayan and Siobhán Airey. The call is here.

Anti-terrorism measures have led to increasing digital interception of private communications and to mass surveillance, the extent of which had been unseen until recently. When a few years ago the discussion started about how to deal with this phenomenon, the call for a new legal instrument quickly erupted. However, this the article demonstrates that this is not a blind spot of international law. Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the right to privacy and the protection against unlawful interference with correspondence. The Human Rights Committee which is entrusted with the interpretation of the Covenant has taken recent cyber-related developments as an opportunity to unpack the right to privacy in the context of its state reporting procedure. The article by Anja Seibert-Fohr describes and systematizes the Human Rights Committee’s interpretation of Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with respect to the protection of privacy against digital surveillance, meta data retention and foreign intelligence cooperation and outlines the respective legal standards. The author demonstrates that the Covenant provides the necessary legal ground to confront new technological challenges without ignoring the exigencies of the altering security situation. Safeguard procedures play a central role in this undertaking. The Committee, having identified various shortcomings in national legal frameworks, has specified the necessary safeguards to effectively protect the right to privacy against arbitrary interference. It has also clarified the territorial scope of protection under the Covenant which is not limited to domestic measures but also extents to transnational surveillance and digital intelligence sharing. The Committee thus has specified the meaning of Article 17 and laid important groundwork for the consideration of cyber-related issues. The author concludes with an outlook, describing new issues which the Committee will need to consider in the future, and makes general recommendations for the future conceptualization of the right to privacy in the digital age more generally.

A reminder that the British International Studies Association International Law Working Group has issued a call for papers for a workshop on "International law under pressure: navigating a shifting landscape," to take place November 19, 2018, at the University of Glasgow. The deadline is June 30, 2018. Here's the call:

International law and legal institutions are central to the post-Cold War rules-based international order. The multilateral arrangements underpinning this order are coming under visible stress, however, as state and non-state actors seek to challenge, reshape, and in some cases withdraw from international institutions and their associated global and regional regimes, including across economic, environmental, human rights/humanitarian, and security-related spheres. This dynamic raises questions about the ability of governments and international institutions to navigate evolving collective policy challenges (e.g. climate change, financial regulation, terrorism, shifts in trade relationships, and shifting forms of warfare) in an increasingly unstable international political environment.

This workshop will provide an opportunity to consider how (and whether) international law can be considered to be under pressure in different areas, the political, economic and social drivers involved, and the implications of these for the future of international law and governance.

The organisers welcome papers from researchers and practitioners exploring: the nature, extent and manifestations of international legal contestation and resistance; the material and ideational sources and drivers of these processes; the causal and constitutive mechanisms involved; legal and political implications, and the resilience and adaptability of existing regimes and institutions to emerging trends.

Abstracts of not more than 300 words should be submitted to bisailaw2018@glasgow.ac.uk by 30 June 2018, and should be accompanied by a one-page CV for each applicant.

We are particularly keen to encourage contributions from PhD students and early career researchers, and can offer modest travel bursaries for a small number of attendees. Please indicate when you submit your abstract whether you would like to be considered for one of these, along with details of the amount sought. Lunch will be provided.